(50) Where is the supramundane world? It is outright beyond the worldly mentality and worldly mode of behavior of a sentient being. Then is it distant from him? Well, it is neither far away from him as it is barely beyond his wild reverie, nor very close to him because a sentient being’s wild reverie can cover an infinitely vast expanse. It is true that the supramundane world is verily in his mind, but the mundane world is also in a sentient being’s mind. So far as a practitioner is concerned, the possibilities such as whether he is able to make himself so resolutely override his attachment to secularism as to facilitate his embarkation on awakening, whether he would willingly renounce the mundane world to take a supramundane path, and whether, after he has attained his awakening, he would go back into the mundane world to administer salvation to the laity depend completely on the workings of his psyche. The difference between a sage and an ordinary person does not at all consist in dissimilarity in terms of outward appearance such as countenance, mien, or manner. Please do refrain from imagining that once a practitioner has attained Buddhahood, he would instantly be ensconced respectfully in a spectacular shrine where he is to inspect his multitudinous admirers lying prone on the ground before him or that his countenance or figure would then become quite outlandish or grotesque. Nothing of that sort will happen indeed. The only difference between a sage and an ordinary practitioner consists in psychic disparities. Equanimity rules supreme in a sage’s mind, whereas an ordinary practitioner’s mind might be ruffled from time to time or even when he is in the course of a seated meditation. A sage would remain unperturbed all the time even when he gets himself involved in the vortex of a hard bout of physical labor or mental exertion. In some Buddhist Scriptures is mentioned the term, “nirvana stillness” which is used to characterize a sage’s psyche. This term does not imply that the sage in question behaves like a robot, being characterized by a lack of initiative or by amplitude of passivity and does emphasizes that his mentality is serene, calm, and free of all mundane concerns. “After having attained Buddhahood, a practitioner remains exactly the same person as what he was before the enlightenment. The only change having befallen him is his altered psyche and altered line of conduct.” This is a famous statement by a great Chan Buddhist in ancient China, which describes the typical change taking place in a practitioner after his attainment of Buddhahood. Similar statements have been given by a lot of renowned Chan masters thereafter. With attainment of Buddhahood, one would become farsighted, completely clear about how the mundane world works, how the laity thinks, feels, and desires, and how he himself should behave, as an awakened being, in different nexuses of circumstances in the mundane world. In a word, he has been manumitted from the annoyances and vexations of the mundane life. Except for the emancipation from everyday irritation and depression, he does not differ from a lay person in any other respect. (From My Heart My Buddha)